The U.S. Is Sending Military Advisers to Ukraine

U.S. military advisers are heading to Ukraine, the Air Force Timesreports.

The small team will be there to assess "mid- and long-term needs for defense reform," a Pentagon official tells Chuck Vinch.

The White House has slowly been rolling out its assistance to Ukraine since early March, including a $1 billion aid package. Back then, interim Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk met with President Obama at the White House and appealed for military aid, including arms, ammunition, and intelligence support.

Here's what the White House has pledged to provide to the Ukrainian military so far:

Ukraine will no doubt welcome the help. Its military, underfunded and plagued by shaky leadership, has struggled to push pro-Russian separatists groups out of the eastern part of the country. On Wednesday, Ukrainian forces abandoned a military outpost in the city of Luhansk after a 10-hour gunfight with separatists, who have taken over the region.